GSC Officer Elections


The GSC Officers serve as the primary graduate representatives to MIT, and every April a new set is elected to represent the graduate student body. If you’re interested in making MIT a better place for all graduate students, contributing to decision-making on the future of the institute, or advocating for your peers to the administration, consider running for a GSC Officer position.

The GSC Officers:

  • Advocate for graduate students on research, academic, housing, and student life issues
  • Hold regular meetings with MIT administrators (President, Provost, Chancellor, Deans, OGE, DSL, VP for Research etc.) to improve the graduate student experience
  • Maintain representation of graduate students on Institute Committees
  • Facilitate communication and connection within the graduate student community
  • Manage the GSC finances and ensure equitable funding of graduate activities
  • Oversee the eight GSC Standing Committees
  • Collaborate with the MIT Alumni Association and MIT Corporation
  • Participate in the OneMIT graduation ceremony
  • Officer Positions

Four Constitutional Officers (duties in Article I of the Bylaws) are elected each year at the April General Council Meeting.

  • President
  • Vice-President
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer

If you are interested in running, submit your nomination here!

Committee Elections

Committee Chairs (duties in Article II of the Bylaws):

  • Academics, Research & Careers (2 co-chairs)
  • Activities (2 co-chairs)
  • Association of Student Activities (joint with UA; 1 chair)
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (1 chair)
  • External Affairs Board (1 chair): Election during the April GCM
  • Housing & Community Affairs (2 co-chairs)
  • Muddy Charles Pub Board (1 chair)
  • Orientation (2 co-chairs)

The Executive Committee (ExComm) consists of all officers and committee chairs.

GSC Officer Election Timeline

  • Nominations open: March GCM
  • Nominations close: April GCM
  • Meet the Officer Candidates Event – Date TBD
  • Officer elections: April GCM
  • Terms begin: May GCM

GSC Election Procedures

Officer elections are run in accordance with Article IV of the Bylaws. The officers shall be nominated and elected by the Council at its April meeting. They shall assume office at the May meeting. An officer may be impeached by any three members of the Council, and the officer may be removed by a 2/3 vote of the members of the Council.

Article IV of the Bylaws is included in its entirety below:

A. All MIT graduate students are eligible to run for GSC office.

B. Nominations for officer positions will open at the March meeting, and will remain open until the start of the elections process at the April meeting. Any candidate who is nominated or self-nominates has the option of submitting a statement of purpose and curriculum vitae to the current officers up until one week prior to the elections. At that time, the list of all candidates who have submitted either document will be published on the GSC website, along with said documents. Any further nominations must occur at the April meeting. All nominations, regardless of when they occurred, must be seconded at the April meeting. The Council will sponsor an informal coffee hour between 5 and 7 days prior to the April meeting, during which graduate students will have the chance to meet the current candidates and ask any relevant questions.

C. The GSC Secretary will inform all relevant graduate student groups about the nomination and election procedures one month prior to the elections. The secretary will also send to these groups a list of eligible voters and directions outlining the procedure by which a graduate student may become an eligible voter. The executive committee will decide which graduate student groups will be considered relevant.

D. Election Procedures will be as follows:

  1. All candidates for a position will give a speech of no more than five minutes.
  2. The Council will have the chance to ask questions of the candidates. All questions will be addressed to all the candidates and will be answered in the following order: the first question will be answered first by the first candidate, second by the second candidate, etc.; the second question will be answered first by the second candidate, second by the third candidate, etc., and the first candidate will answer this question last.
  3. The candidates will be asked to leave the room and closed-ballot voting will take place. Voters will be asked to list the candidates in order of preference and the votes will be counted using the full preferential method. If no one receives a majority of first choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first place votes will be eliminated and his/hers votes will go to the candidate that was listed as a second choice. This process will continue until a candidate receives a majority of the votes. If at the end of this process, there are two or more candidates with an equal number of votes, but no majority of the votes, all other candidates are eliminated and another vote will be held, using the above procedure involving only the candidates not eliminated. In the case of a deadlock between two or more candidates, defined as three consecutive tied votes, the winner shall be chosen by a fair random method, e.g. a coin flip.
  4. After officer elections there shall be a transition period in which the officers-elect will be instructed in the responsibilities of their office. The first Council meeting held after officer elections shall be a joint meeting of the officers-elect and outgoing officers, at the end of which the newly elected officers shall begin their term of office. A transition period will also be observed after the election of Committee representatives, although newly elected representatives shall have sole voting privileges from the beginning of their term. Outgoing representatives are urged to continue their participation until their term officially ends, and to attend the first meeting after the new term begins.

E. In the event an Officer fails to perform the required duties or commits any other gross misconduct, he or she may be removed by a “vote of no confidence”. The “vote of no confidence” can be initiated by a petition signed by a minimum of 3 Council members and must be introduced to Council outlining the specific charges against said Officer. Immediately upon introduction of this petition, Council will vote to appoint a neutral Council member to preside over the impeachment proceedings. This neutral Council member may not be an Officer or one of the signatories of the petition for a “vote of no confidence”. The hearing on the presented charges and impeachment proceedings can take place during a regular Council meeting or a special meeting of the Council can be scheduled. The presiding Council member shall notify the Council and the Officers of the time and date of the meeting. The impeachment proceedings cannot occur sooner than two weeks nor later than six weeks from the introduction of the petition for a “vote of no confidence” and cannot occur on MIT holidays. After presentation of a case for and against the Officer’s conduct, the Council members present at the meeting shall vote whether the Council has no confidence in the accused Officer, and the Officer shall be immediately removed by a 2/3 vote of the members of the Council. An Officer cannot be put up for a “vote of no confidence” more than once in a three month timeframe. All votes related to the impeachment process are subject to the regular quorum requirements specified in Article V.C.3 and Article V.C.4..

F. In the event that an Officer position becomes vacant, e.g. due to Officer removal or resignation, special elections will be called to replace that Officer. These elections will occur at the next Council meeting that is at least two weeks after the position becomes vacant. These elections shall be run in accordance with Article IV Sections A-D with appropriate date and timeline exceptions made due to the accelerated schedule described above. Until the vacant Officer position is filled, the duties of the position will be shared between the remaining Officers. If the position of the President is vacant, the powers and responsibilities of this position are exercised by the Vice-President.